Happy Birthday, May Babies!

Happy Birthday May Babies! Your traditional and modern birthstone is the precious and valuable emerald. This beautiful green gem is a variety of the mineral beryl ...the same family as morganite and aquamarine. Pure Beryl is clear white, but the chromium impurities in emeralds are what give the gem its green color.

The gem's value is graded on it's color and clarity. Because emeralds are naturally highly included, they are almost always treated with oil during the lapidary process. This oil helps improve the gem's clarity. Better quality stones are a bright, medium to dark green. Because of the oil treatment, emeralds should never be cleaned with an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner or washed with soap.


The word "emerald" originated from the Sanskrit word 'marakata' which evolved through many languages to the Old French 'esmeralde', meaning green gemstone.

The earliest emeralds were found in Egypt where the pharaohs exhausted the mines near the Red Sea known as the Cleopatra Mines between 3000 and 1500 B.C . Emeralds are now found in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.

Besides being important as royal stones to many cultures, emeralds have also been important to many religions as well. The green gem is a holy stone for the Incas and Aztecs. In India, the holy scriptures, the Vedas, claim that emeralds bring good luck and enhance well being. The Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus, used the emerald as a talisman to represent faith, fertility, goodness and kindness.

Some believe that these stones will improve memory, intelligence, patience and enhance clairvoyance. Gemstone lore hold that emeralds are worn to promote healing and enhance love and contentment.

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